In general, the present invention relates to a signaling device and more specifically relates to a signaling device for use in relation to and connected with a hospital, convalescent or other bed wherein the occupant of such bed requires special, continuous care and observation.
The acute shortage of hospital personnel is a matter of common knowledge. Devices which can help to alleviate this shortage of personnel and result in a lowering of the cost of hospital and convalescent care are in great demand. The need for a device capable of monitoring a patient's activity or inactivity which can be installed and incorporated within existing hospital and convalescent home equipment has long been recognized.
The prior art has, on numerous occasions over a long period of time, attempted to deal with the problem of monitoring a patient in bed for a variety of purposes, as indicated by the following patents, and has attempted to deal specifically with the problem of determining a patient's presence or absence from the bed. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 884,121; 1,969,554; 2,260,715; 3,163,856 and 3,325,799.
The prior art has, in general, either failed to provide the degree of sensitivity and ease of adaption to existing equipment which would lead to its wide scale utilization within the health care industry, or has involved such sophisticated electronic techniques as to justify its use only in the most extraordinary of circumstances. This combination of difficulties arises in part from the economic necessities of the health care industry and thus necessitates that any successful invention which is to be adapted on a wide scale throughout the health care industry must constitute a blend of the needed adaptability together with a sufficient degree of sensitivity and responsiveness to be of such real use to the hospital personnel as to justify the cost of installation and operation.